The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is an integral part of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, which includes the Schools of Allied Health, Dentistry, Graduate Studies, Medicine, and Nursing. The faculty within the Department have strong, diverse research interests including cancer molecular and cellular biology, neuropeptide and enzyme processing, protein biochemistry, gene promoter and expression analyses, molecular biology of aging, cardiac development, cancer genetics, and molecular epidemiology of cancer. The Department offers PhD and MD/PhD degrees. Students, postdoctoral research scientists, research faculty, and visiting faculty members make significant contributions to the Department's activities. Strong collaborations exist with Basic Science and Clinical researchers within the LSUHSC community, with research groups elsewhere on a national and international level, and with established and emerging biotechnology industry.

The Department is well-equipped with most modern biochemical equipment required for the analysis of nucleic acids and proteins, including a state-of-the-art microarray core, a DNA sequencing core, and preparative ultracentrifuges. The Department is also equipped with facilities for high-pressure liquid chromatography, fast protein liquid chromatography, fluorescent in situ hybridization, fluorescent activated cell sorting, and microinjection. The Health Sciences Center Core Laboratories contain facilities for oligonucleotide synthesis, peptide synthesis and microsequencing, mass spectroscopy, a fluorescence-activated cell sorter, and a phosphorimager. An Image Analysis facility includes a confocal microscope as well as a molecular modeling workstation.

The shop facilities of the Department contain all of the equipment needed for fabrication and repair of scientific equipment. Scott Neville (rnevil@lsuhsc.edu), who manages the facility, performs most of the electronic and mechanical repairs.

Together with the Neuroscience Center, the Department administers an extensive tissue culture facility, which provides sterile media preparation, long-term storage of cell lines in liquid nitrogen, and propagates cell lines. More than 100 cell lines are contained within the tissue culture liquid nitrogen banks.

In addition to its on-site library facilities, the Health Sciences Center belongs to a library consortium which provides inter-library loans of books and journals. The Health Sciences Center is fully connected to the Internet.

Sincerely,

Arthur L. Haas, PhD
Professor and Chairman

See Cover and pages 19 through 21 for article for May Lam’s trip to D.C.